Studio Sex
Page 36
The man sat down next to her. He watched her closely for a couple of minutes, then said, “You seem to have been involved in something really serious. Is that your cat?”
She nodded.
“What’s her name?”
“His. Whiskas.”
So she could talk. “What happened to Whiskas?”
She started to cry again. The police officer waited silently by her side until she stopped.
“He killed him, with his hunting knife,” she said finally. “There was nothing I could do. He slashed his whole belly open.”
“Who did?”
She didn’t reply.
“The men out there think the dead man is Sven Matsson. Is that correct?”
She hesitated, then looked up at him and nodded. “He shouldn’t have gone for my cat. He really shouldn’t have gone for Whiskas. Do you understand?”
The man nodded. “Absolutely. And who are you?”
“Annika Sofia Bengtzon.”
He took out a notepad from his pocket. “When were you born?”
She met his gaze. “I’m twenty-four years, five months, and twenty days old.”
“Well! You’re very precise.”
“I keep a count in my diary,” she said, and leaned over her dead cat.
Epilogue
Oh, hello! It’s Karina Björnlund. Am I disturbing you?”
The prime minister sighed soundlessly into the phone. “No, not at all. What can I do for you?”
“Quite a lot, actually. As you must understand, I’ve been having quite a difficult time. In the middle of the election campaign and all…”
She fell silent; the prime minister waited for her to continue.
“Yes, well, I only got to work for eight months, so my severance pay wasn’t very big.”
Yes, he had to agree with that.
“So I was wondering if maybe I could go on working for the government. I’ve learned a lot and I think I could make quite a big contribution.”
The prime minister smiled. “I’m sure, Karina. Working that close to the eye of the storm changes one forever. And I’m positive you’ll find new work soon. Nobody can take your merits away from you.”
“Or my knowledge.”
“True. But you know the ministers like to have a say when it comes to choosing their press secretaries. I couldn’t make any promises.”
She gave a little laugh. “Of course you can. Everybody knows you’re the one who decides. Nobody goes against your decisions.”
That was true, he thought to his amusement. Maybe she wasn’t so dim after all.
“Karina, I hear what you’re saying. Okay? So you want to hang on, but I’m saying no. Are we agreed?”
The woman on the phone didn’t say anything for a while.
“Well, if that was all…” The prime minister prepared to hang up.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Karina Björnlund said quietly.
“I’m sorry?” A note of irritation was in his voice.
“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough. This is not a negotiation. I’m telling you that in these eight months I’ve gained knowledge you couldn’t put a price on. What I’m telling you is that I have a lot to contribute and that I want to go on working for the government.”
The prime minister breathed down the phone; his brain had stopped working. How the hell…? What the hell had the woman found out—
“Listen closely now,” the woman said, “because I’m only going to tell you this once. I don’t want to bring it up again, although the decision doesn’t rest with me.”
His mouth was completely dry. “You’re not even a Social Democrat.”
“What the hell does that matter?” she said.
Article in Kvällspressen
Date: 7 October
Page: 1 of 2
Written by: Sjölander
Two Surprises
in New Cabinet
Body text:
And so the prime minister has finally presented his new cabinet. The secrecy surrounding the new names has been profound. There were no leaks before the complete cabinet was presented yesterday at Rosenbad.
“The pressure on the ministers is uncompromising,” a source tells Kvällspressen. “Anyone that talks to the media beforehand is out.”
There are two big surprise names among the usual suspects. The new minister for foreign trade after Christer Lundgren, who was recently appointed head of SSAB in Luleå, is Evert Andersson, former chair of the local government social services committee in Katrineholm. He has no experience of politics on a national level but is said to be a close friend of the prime minister’s.
The other surprise is even bigger. Karina Björnlund, the former press secretary of Christer Lundgren, has been appointed new minister for culture.
“Media commercialization has gone too far,” the new minister said in her first statement. “I will be appointing a committee that will take a look at media concentration in order to maintain variety and confine ownership. The media has far too much power.”
But the question is to what extent Karina Björnlund and the rest of the government will be able to implement any of their policies.
This year’s election results were the worst in modern history for the Social Democrats. They will have to rely on the support of at least two other parliamentary parties to push through any of their policies and (Page 2)
Wire from the Local Press Association (FLT)
Date: 10 November
Section: Current Affairs
Studio 69 Wins Media Award
STOCKHOLM (FLT) The current affairs radio program transmitted live from Studio 69 in the Radio House in Stockholm has been awarded this year’s big media award in the radio category.
Studio 69 wins the prize for their investigation into the former minister for foreign trade Christer Lundgren’s involvement in the murder of a stripper in July earlier this year.
“It’s a victory for investigative journalism,” the presenter says.
“The award is proof that it’s worth going for serious programming and competent journalists.”
The award ceremony will take place on the 20th of November.
Copyright: FLT
Wire from the Swedish Central News Agency (TT)
Date: 24 February
Section: Home
Jail Sentence for Porn King
STOCKHOLM (TT) The 29-year-old man who ran the Stockholm strip club Studio 69 was yesterday sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment. The Stockholm City Court sentenced the man for fraud against creditors, fraudulent accounting, tax fraud, and obstruction of tax audit.
The 22-year-old woman, originating from South America, suspected of having run the business in conjunction with the man is still at large. A detention order has been issued in her absence.
Copyright: Swedish Central News Agency (TT)
Excerpt from Lunchtime Eko
Date: 15 March
Section: Political Affairs
Swedish Weapons Employed
in Bloody Caucasian Civil War
Report:
(Studio Reporter) Heavy fighting resumed last September in the small Caucasian mountain republic. In excess of ten thousand people have been killed in the war between the guerrillas and government forces during the past six months. The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society now claims that the government forces are using arms from Swedish weapon manufacturers. This accusation is today made in an op-ed piece in the newspaper Kvällspressen.
The Swedish government are skeptical about the statement.
The prime minister’s press officer says, “These claims are highly dubious. There is an embargo on arms exports to the republic in question, and we cannot see how any Swedish weapons could end up there. The Swedish government have not and will not sanction consignments to the area within the foreseeable future.” (end report)
payoff:
And the reporter was…
News item in Eskilstuna-Kuriren
/>
Date: 23 June
Page: 17
Woman Convicted
of Death of Bandy Star
ESKILSTUNA The 25-year-old woman who last year in Hälleforsnäs killed the bandy player Sven Matsson was yesterday convicted of involuntary manslaughter by the Eskilstuna County Court. The woman was sentenced to a probational sentence.
The prosecution presented the case as manslaughter, but the judges went with the defense counsel. The decision reached by the court was influenced by the man’s prolonged abuse of the woman. The act was to some extent seen as self-defense.
“The detailed description of physical and mental abuse as set down by the woman in her diary over the years has no doubt influenced the outcome of the case,” the woman’s lawyer stated.
The woman has declined to comment on the sentence.
“She has completely rebuilt her life following the tragic events,” her lawyer says. “She lives in Stockholm and was yesterday, the day of the sentence, given a permanent position with her employer.”
(EK)
Acknowledgments
This is a work of fiction. The newspaper Kvällspressen doesn’t exist, although it has traits of various existing media companies.
The account of the government departmental organization and the division of responsibility and premises is based on the situation prior to the formation of the new Ministry of Industry, Employment, and Communications.
Every character in the novel is a product of the author’s imagination. All similarities between the characters in the novel and any real living persons are entirely accidental. Some existing political figures and civil servants do figure under their real names in the novel. They are to be found in the historical account of the twists and turns of the espionage carried out by the Swedish Social Democratic Party against the citizens of Sweden. All particulars in the case are based on previously known facts. However, the novel’s assumption of the course of events and the repercussions of the IB affair are fictional.
*
My sources for the IB affair were:
Folket i Bild Kulturfront, no. 9, 1973, by Jan Guillou and Peter Bratt.
Kommunistjägarna (The Communist Hunters), by Jonas Gummesson and Thomas Kanger (Ordfront, 1990).
Aftonbladet, pullout section December 3, 1990, “Sanningen om den svenska neutraliteten” (The Truth about Swedish Neutrality), by Jonas Gummesson and Thomas Kanger.
Report on TV4 News during the 1998 election campaign.
*
The account and interpretation of the tarot cards were found in Tarot: själens spegel(Tarot— Mirror of the Soul), by Gerd Ziegler (Vattumannen Förlag).
The details surrounding the running of a strip club I found in En strippas bekännelse(Confessions of a Stripper), by Isabella Johansson.
*
I also want to thank all the people who have helped out with answers to my sometimes rather strange questions. They are:
Jonas Gummesson, current affairs editor at the TV4 News Desk, for supplying me with source material, checking of facts, and sharing his knowledge of Swedish domestic and foreign espionage.
Associate Professor Robert Grundin at the National Board of Forensic Medicine in Stockholm, for an introduction to the department’s work.
Claes Cassel, the Stockholm police press officer, for guiding me through various police premises.
Kaj Hällström, filer at the Hälleforsnäs Works, for guiding and supplying trade terminology surrounding casting and deserted blast furnaces.
Eva Wintzell, district prosecutor in Stockholm, for legal advice and analysis.
Kersti Rosén, the press ombudsman, and Eva Tetzell, chief administrative officer at the Broadcasting Commission, for help with the analysis of media ethics issues.
Birgitta Wiklund, information officer at the Defense Staff information department, for an exposition of the principle of public access to official records and mail routines.
Nils-Gunnar Hellgren, senior administrative officer at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Courier Service, for background and rules governing diplomatic couriers and their bags.
Peter Rösth, winner of the Round Gotland Race, for yachting terminology.
Olov Karlsson, editor of TV Norrbotten, for special Piteå knowledge.
Maria Hällström and Catarina Nitz for Sörmland detail.
Nikolaj Alsterdal and Linus Feldt, my computer gurus.
Sigge Sigfridsson, my brilliant publisher, who has yet to fail me.
Lotta Snickare, management consultant at Föreningssparbanken, for continual fruitful discussions.
Johanne Hildebrandt, TV producer, war correspondent, and good friend, for daily shouts of encouragement.
And last and more than anyone, dramatist Tove Alsterdal, who read everything first; the perfect sounding board, reader, and critic.
In the end, any faults that may occur are entirely of my own making.